Saturday, 25 October 2008

Right Chaps, here's a new blog subject, set within a fantastical place I have held near and dear for many many years; Robert Erwin Howard's Hyborian Age.These posts will present the rules for and progression of a play-by-email try game based around the Aquilonian Civil War, which historically saw Conan (a mere barbarian) defeat (slay) King Numedides to become ruler of the most powerful Western Nation of the time.Here's the spoiler...

"In 1287 AA, Count Trocero of Poitain convinced general Conan to head a rebellion against the tyrant King Numedides. Over the course of the next 8 months, Aquilonia is plunged into a bloody civil war. This is the story of one possible outcome of that conflict..."

The game will commence some time in the New Year of 2009 - hopefully.Future posts will set out the Troop Types, Basic Rules, Game Map, Player Info, etc.Once the game begins, I'll endeavour to maintain a weekly game turn sequence.I anticipate the game will suit two groups of up to four Players per side; the Loyalists and the Rebels. Opportunity for betrayal is possible, but not encouraged.!

Sunday, 19 October 2008

Got the first group of Boxers completed - a leader and 6 men.Here they are...

I have also purchased another 50+ figures off eBay (30+ Boxers and about 17 other nationalities), so it looks like there may well be scope for a larger scale game at some point. Oh yes, I also got some "armed" civilians too.!

Next on the painting table are the 5 US marines. I had a closer look at them as I undercoated them and they are all in "shirtsleeve order" so no blue jackets, which is good - no chance of confusing them with the Tigermen and/or British Marines.

I have considered painting up the US machine-gun team too (which will probably be prudent if a larger game with around 50 Boxers is in the offing), but that will wait until the second batch of Boxers is complete.

You may have noticed that I also tried a new basing technique using cat litter and sand. Didn't quite work out right - over did it with the cat litter. Next time, I'll not use as much (sprinkle bits on rather than dip the pva-loaded base in the stuff). Still, it's always fun to experiment.!

Monday, 13 October 2008

Completed the two 'falling down' casualties for the AWI game; One in hunting shirt and the other in regular uniform. They don't look too bad. The bases might need a bit more work than the 'prone' chaps.

Also did a little more work on the first batch of 7 Boxers too; a mix of coloured jackets and trousers to show their irregularity.! Should have them finished this week easy =)

Friday, 3 October 2008

I have only just realised, much to my chagrin, that we are actually in October, meaning that Targe is now less than a month away, and I still have "some" (many!) AWI Brits to paint. Adrian asked me the other week if everything was ready and I casually said "yeah, yeah, everything's in hand..."

How in the name of Christmas did I manage to lose a month...? In my youth I could, and did, regularly lose big chunks of time - there was that time when a weekend in Glasgow for a comic convention turned into a (somewhat hazy) month long stay (but that's a story for another time)

What to do, what to do!!!? first off, I think some kind of panic is in order:

"Aaaaaarrggghhhh!!"

Panic over.

Time for a pep talk, replete with the inevitable chastening cliche (or two): I've got to grab this problem by the scruff of the neck! There's no point in crying about spilt Lilt! That particular ship has not only sailed, it has reached its destination, unloaded, been re-fitted, re-loaded and is now on its way back...!!

That worked, I feel much better now!

Right, the plan.

First off, buy some more figures; nothing focuses the mind more than adding yet more lead to the unpainted Eiger of AWI goodness I already have! Robin has kindly agreed to pick up whatI need at the show in Derby tomorrow, so all being well I should have that on Monday. In the meantime, I have a free weekend to make considerable in-roads into my existing lead. The Hesssian Jaegers are just about finished, with only some detailing to do so I'll get them out of the way first. The 23rd Royal Welch Fusiliers all have their basecoats, so a few highlights and a wash will sort them out.

Thursday, 2 October 2008

Here are the next few figures.It's the Germans.!Only 4 of these - including the leader (the bloke holding his arm up and, I assume, shouting "Halt!" or some such command.Anyway, here they are...

Still to come: the US Marines (5 nr.) and the Boxers themselves (15 nr.).That would give us enough for a six-player game.Then if needs be, I can paint up the Welch Fusiliers and the US Marine MG team at short notice (1 week should be enough) if there are more players in the game..

Hello...

Welcome to the Kirklees Crusaders Blog.We are a small group of comparatively like-minded wargamers who get together fairly regularly for games which vary from Ancient/Medieval through ECW, AWI and Napolionic and up to WW2.This is where we will be talking about what we get up to.!Thanks for visiting.